Cobalt Twilight
by Nerd of Camelot
Summary: A seemingly abandoned workshop and a strange invention within send a certain blue speedster on the adventure of a lifetime...er, maybe. Now he has to stop a certain squid resembling usurper King and learn how to deal with a very odd and uncomfortable transformation. With the help of everyone's favorite Imp, what could go wrong?
1. Here We Go

**A/N: Due to writer's block and an inability to edit certain stories, I will be working on this story and ****_Suddenly A Ringtail_****. Hope you enjoy. I'll certainly have fun writing it... Especially since I've only played this game once and I know next to nothing about this character... Okay, actually, I'm a bit obsessed with this character, so don't be surprised if I get ****_really_**** in depth about his thoughts. I'm actually quite good and introspection.**

* * *

Rather boredly, a youthful blue hedgehog brushed his fingers over the Extreme Gear in his hands. He sighed loudly and leaned it back against the wall. He cast a slow look about, eyes raking over the almost endless blinking machines and odd contraptions.

"Geez... Tails really needs to clean up a little bit." He muttered to himself as he began picking his way through the clutter. "Tails? You home little buddy?" He called out.

He doubled back through the machines and grabbed his Extreme Gear on some odd whim. He continued on withoit thinking much of it.

"Tails? I just wanted to make sure you were still in practice with your Extreme Gear!" He lowered his voice back to a mutter, "Seriously, where _is_ that kid? Usually I'd have gotten an answer by now."

He finally reached the center of the younger boy's workshop. The yellow kitsune was nowhere to be found. A wrench lay abandoned on the table, his computer moniters were blank, and an invention sat uncompleted on the floor next to his stool.

"Okay, that's really weird. Tails never leaves a project unattended, and his moniters are _never_ blank." He drew his eyebrows together in worry. "I swear, if he's gone and gotten himself kidnapped by Eggman like Amy always does, I am going to kick his furry little hind-end."

Curiously, he then noticed another contraption. It looked a bit more complete than the other, and it was blinking in a way that made it clear it was on. Evermore curious, as was his nature, he approached the machine and examined the buttons closely. He knew Tails would probably be furious at him for it, but he pressed the "START" button anyway.

A second later, he found himself wishing he hadn't.

* * *

I was in a load of pain. I didn't know why, but I was. Without even opening my eyes or moving the slightest bit, I could tell I probably had a few broken ribs and that my Extreme Gear was still in my hands. Some part of me was also groaning that we weren't anywhere near Tails's workshop anymore.

Carefully I pulled myself into a sitting position. I could sense people around me, and I heard their startled intake of breath when I moved.

"It's alive." A small voice cried.

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around at them. Humans, every single one of them. I held my ribs as I got to my feet and hissed in pain when I moved the wrong way. "...Yep... Definitely broken..."

One of them, a young girl moved forward while the rest of them stared at me in shock.

"You can...speak?" She asked quietly.

I nodded, "Yeah... Is that weird or something?"

"Most animals cannot speak... Or stand like a human."

"Yeah, I guess it is a little strange, when you think about it." I shook my head and attempted to hold out my hand to her, but the movement sent a painful stab through my side. "Ungh..."

"Are you okay?!" The girl asked worriedly. "What happened?!"

"I'm pretty sure my ribs, at least a few of them, are broken... It's sorta painful."

"Father!" She cried and took off through the crowd, "This creature is injured!"

The other humans stared at me warily before one of them stepped forward. "Do you have a name, strange creature?" He asked.

"Sonic." I replied, nodding respectfully. "And you are...?"

"Rusl." He replied with a nod of his own.

The girl came back, a large man in tow. She led him straight to me. "His ribs are broken." She said, sounding pained herself.

"Well, Ilia, perhaps you should take him up to that spring you always take Epona to when she's injured. The water ought to heal him up nicely."

I very carefully made sure not to look scared at the thought of water. It wouldn't do to have these people know about my hydophobia so soon after my arrival. Ilia smiled at me and beckoned for me to follow her. After a second of watching me carefully, the other humans seemed to deem me safe enough and let us go on our way.

"It's only knee deep at the deepest point." She told me once we were out of earshot.

"How did you...?"

"Know you were scared of water? You looked a little reluctant about going to a spring of water. I've seen that expression before on the other kids' faces."

I nodded thoughtfully. "You must be pretty good at reading people... Most people don't notice until someone who already knew tells them."

She smiled. "I guess..." She opened the gates in front of us, "All you have to do is step in."

I walked past her and stepped carefully into the water. Almost immediately I felt my ribs healing up. This was some pretty cool water.

Ilia smiled as I stepped back out and walked back over to her. "I didn't catch your name earlier, by the way." She pointed out.

"Sonic." I said with a smile.


	2. Swordplay and Friendship

**A/N: Okay, first chapter was sort of... not good. But it will get better, I swear.**

**Sonic: So, what exactly are you going to do to me? I'm a little worried._  
_**

**Don't be! If I was going to do anything _too_ horrible to you, I would've dropped you in the Wind Waker timeline. But as it stands the worst that's gonna happen is a pretty uncomfortable and weird transformation. Sorta like your werehog form, but not quite.**

**Sonic: Why does that do nothing to reassure me?**

* * *

Groggily I opened my eyes. Something was off about this... My hand shot out and grabbed my Extreme Gear and I sat up quickly. After a moment, I remembered where I was and laid back down.

"Gah... I'm way too paranoid." I muttered, rubbing my head.

I sat back up again, more slowly this time. I looked around the inside of the house again, the ladders and rails and platforms. The humans of Ordan village sure had been nice to let me have this old tree house.

_"It's not much, but it ought to suit your needs... right?" Ilia asked politely._

_I surveyed the tree house again. It was large, for a tree house, and was well enough away from the village to provide privacy, but close enough that Ilia or one of the other villagers could come get me if needed. I nodded, "Yeah. It'll work just fine. Thanks, Ilia."_

_She smiled before a thoughtful look came across her face. "You know, the guy who used to live here just up and left one day. He was a good friend of my father's, and helped out on the ranch up past our house. Nobody knows where he went, or why he left. One day he was here, and the next day he had vanished. It's been a little over a year now..."_

_"What was his name?" I asked curiously._

"Link." I repeated the odd name with a bit of a strange expression. "Honestly, who names their kid Link? His parents must've hated him or something!"

I shook my head, and right as I stood, someone knocked on the door. I zipped across the room and opened the door to see Rusl standing there. In one hand he was holding a wooden sword, and in the other a real one.

"Do you know anything about swordplay, Sonic?" He asked.

"A bit. I helped a court magician defeat a corrupted king once." I screwed up my face. "But that was over a year ago and I'm probably out of practice."

He smiled, "Well, you can't be too out of practice to use a real sword, can you?" He handed me the real one and put the other aside.

For most of the morning, Rusl and I sparred and practiced. The other village children, who I remembered were named Beth, Malo, and Talo, came to watch. Ilia passed through with a horse I assumed was Epona, and the very last village child, Colin, joined us near the end. Colin was a rather timid little boy, and he seemed to be content to stay away from the other children. Beth, at one point, ran back to the village to do something.

When she came back, I realized why Colin kept his distance. He was standing slightly in front of thr entrance to the clearing I now lived in when she came running back. Without even batting an eyelash, she shoved him harshly out of the way. For the briefest second, he looked _very_ angry, but the next second it was gone.

As Rusl and the other children left, I called out to him.

"Can I talk to you?"

He nodded in a rather melancholy way and walked over to me. "Yes, Sonic?"

I smiled at him, "You're very good at controlling your temper. I saw the way Beth treated you earlier, and I'm actually a bit surprised you didn't chew her out, at the very least."

He looked surprised that I had noticed. "Yeah, well, what am I gonna do about it? Ilia's the only one who doesn't shove me aside and call me names."

My smile returned with vengeance, but it was less reassuring, more caring. "How about I be the other one who doesn't? You remind me of my little brother, and I bet you're prob'ly just as smart."

He smiled back before looking a bit intrigued, "You have a brother?"

"Well, sort of. We're not actualy related, but he was orphaned when he was little so I took him in and we've been best buds ever since." I tried not to frown at the thought of leaving him alone back in our world because I had to mess with his stupid contraption, "He's a fox about your age with two tails instead of just one. He didn't get treated too nicely until I stepped up... All I had to say was that they'd better leave him alone or else... Apparently they didn't want to know what the 'or else' was."

Colin smiled again, "He sounds nice. And two tails? Can he fly with them?"

He was so excited that it was contagious. I nodded, "Yeah, he twirls them around like a super-quick watermill until they lift him up off the ground."

Colin seemed to be lifting up a fog I hadn't known was there just by asking questions and smiling. We spent a lot of the afternoon just talking about random stuff until Rusl came up, looking like he wanted to ask a question. He stopped short though.

"Oh, there you are Colin. I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

He just smiled back and told him he'd just stayed behind to talk to me. "I'll be back for dinner, but I think I'll stay up her and talk to Sonic a little longer."

Rusl seemed extremely pleased to hear that. He left looking quite a bit more relaxed.

Colin and I wasted the entire rest of the day talking, and when we ran out of things to talk about, we just sat at the base of my tree house and stared up through the leaves at the sky. A little before sundown, he said his goodbyes and headed back to town. I couldn't stop the goofy grin that spread across my face. Not only had I thoroughly distracted myself all day, but Colin had officially made a friend that his father - Rusl - aproved of.


	3. Never Speculate About Sudden Trips

**A/N: Chapter 3. Enjoy, and thanks for reading! And as to a comment about my very small amount of spelling errors... Can you believe I type this on a touch screen without spellcheck?**

**Also, no dialogue will be exact. Not only does it help keep away from copyright claims, but I don't feel like playing the game again from the very beginning to get the dialogue.**

* * *

After the sun had finally sunk beneath the horizon, I climbed back up into my tree house. There had been just the right amount of interpersonal communication, and I had gotten good excercise out of it. But I couldn't just lay down and go to sleep just yet. There was one more thing I had to do.

I left the door wide open, grabbed my Extreme Gear, took off running and launched myself outside on the board. In one swift movement I also managed to close the door.

I rode around what was familiar to me already, going up to great heights to see beyond that. I couldn't help smiling when I saw the vastness of the world spread out before me. I could also see, however, a black curtain stopping the scenery abrubtly not to far away. It was sluggishly encroaching the land in its murky confines, and I realized I probably wasn't here for a vacation.

I put it aside and flew back home, opening the door and almost immediately going to bed. The door, locked, seemed to quiver in some unfelt wind. I drifted off watching it shake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

"Sonic!" Someone yelled, "Sonic, aren't you up yet?!"

I sat up and walked to the front door. "What do you mean, 'yet'? It's barely sunrise!" I called back, looking out to see Ilia standing on the ground.

"Well, Rusl and my dad want to see you!" She replied as I walked out. "Hey! What are you -?!"

I landed just fine next to her, having jumped from my platform instead of climbing.

"...doing...?" She looked shocked that I hadm't broken anything.

"I pull off jumps hundreds of times worse than that all the time." I said, shrugging at her before beginningnto walk toward the village. "You comin' or what?"

She shook herself and followed me. "So if you do jumps worse than that, how is it you broke your ribs in the other day's fall?"

"I wasn't awake to catch myself." I shrugged again. "If I'd have been awake, I woulda gotten off with a few bruises, at most."

She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head and sighing. It seemed she had resigned herself to my odd behavior.

She left me alone with her father, Bo, the mayor, and Rusl in the living room. We waited until she was gone to begin speaking.

"Well, Sonic, I need you to go to Hyrule Castle to deliver a sword they ordered. I would go myself, but my wife... We are expecting another child, and I just can't leave her alone." Rusl said.

I nodded, "No problem!" I smiled at him, "I love a good adventure."

_And I get the feeling this isn't going to be any routine delivery._

Bo began speaking now, "And we need help up on the ranch. I know it's much to ask of someone as...small...as you are, but will you help to round them up?"

"That's nothing! Sure I'll help. It's about time I got some decent excercise."

They looked relieved, and I headed up to the ranch by myself. Fado, the rancher, looked very happy to see me. "They're just downright skittish lately. If you could round 'em up that'd be great!"

He didn't insist on watching and went into the barn. After looking at the goats for a little while, I zipped around the field to round them up. At one point, I sent seven in a row into the barn. It took me a little longer than I expected it to, but Fado seemed more than satisfied by my results.

"Good work!"

I went ahead and headed off again. Almost boredly, I broke into a full speed run, flashing past people before they could really notice me. I grinned to myself at the feeling.

I reached the treehouse right as the sky darkened. I didn't quite see what happened, but the next thing I knew I was picking myself up onto my hands and knees...or what I thought for a second were my hands and knees. It was after a moment that I realized I didn't have hands anymore. I had paws.

I made to let out a surprised curse, only to find it came out as a yelp. A small giggle caught my attention, and I looked a round to see a small, floating...elf? No... elf wouldn't be the right word. Imp, yeah, an imp.

She giggled again and I, almost unthinkingly, snarled at her.

"Oh, be a good wolfy! Unless, of course, you don't want my help." I ceased. "Good wolfy." She giggled.

Yep, I definitely wasn't here for a vacation.


	4. Into Twilight

**A/N: Chapter 4.**

* * *

**_In an unknown_**_ **area...**_

A girl with ginger hair was watching the events unfold as they happened, and next to her a laptop sat, typing all by itself. She tilted her head to the side when Sonic ceased growling.

"Surprising... Although, it is in his nature to be a kindred spirit...I suppose I'll have to try harder to fully irritate him."

She waved her hand. The sparks that lit her eyes now were devious, to the point of being scary. She smirked.

"Let's see him handle _that_ without losing his temper." She said matter-of-factly, nodding. "I think that ought to do it."

* * *

"Good wolfy. Now, you'll have to get yourself out of there by yourself, but I'd be more than happy to help afterwards." The imp said.

I groaned internally, of course I had to get out by myself. Of course. I snorted and stood, looking around. I began to make for the set of boxes next to the front of the cell, but I was stopped. Looking down I noticed a chain locking me to the floor via my right front paw, and I growled in irritation. I went to bite at it, but a giggle stopped me.

"Oh, yes, I can help you with that. But you'll have to be my servant and do exactly as I say, okay?"

I growled but nodded. _Whatever gets me unchained. I can't do solitary, especially not chained down._

She began summoning energy in her hands, and something told me she wasn't firing directly at me so I didn't move, just in case. The energy took the form of a crystal and shot easily through the chain, leaving me with the shackle and a small length of it still attatched. I tried not to be irritated by that.

I sniffed at the boxes for a second, but then backed up and pounced on them, shattering them and scattering the pieces. Behind the boxes was a hole. Given my new form, I had no problems digging under the bars and dragging myself out.

Almost immediately a weight dropped onto my back and I turned my head to see what it was. The imp was straddling me and obviously intended for me to be her ride. I was rather put out by the developement, but I made no show of it, instead moving forward and into another cell because, hey, I can't very well open the door.

I eyed the chain hanging from the ceiling thoughtfully before pouncing and grabbing it in my teeth, causing it to jerk downwards under my weight and open up a small corridor. The imp giggled from my back as I padded quietly down the corridor, warily checking around the corners before continuing.

A glowing sphere caught my attention as I exited the corridor. I stopped and cocked my head to the side, my ears perking up and twitching.

"Oh, that's a spirit. They can't see you, and they don't know what's going on. Maybe you should try using your wolf senses to listen in on this one?"

I was confused for a second, but then decided I should stop wasting time trying to figure it out and do what comes naturally. Within a second everything took on a monochrome appearance and my range of vision reduced, but I could clearly see a soldier where the orb had been. I listened.

"What was that?!" He asked right as a splash made its way to my ears. "AHHH!"

I sneezed, dissatisfied at his obvious cowardice. The imp giggled again.

"Not fond of what you hear?" She asked.

I shook my head and grunted. I could almost feel her grinning.

I set off again, muttering to myself about cowardly humans, but it came out as a series of grunts and growls. A small black creature suddenly approached me, and I immediately pounced upon it, biting its neck and clamping my jaws down until it squealed and disappeared in a series of squares.

Had I been in my normal form, I would've raised my eyebrows at that, but instead I just shook my head again and continued on. Eventually, I reached a place where the water just barely covered a large array of spikes. I grumbled to myself the whole way to another chain, which I treated just like the first. The water level rose and I just jumped in, paddling my way all the way back to the spikes and over them.

My fear of water was still present, though as a wolf it was dulled to a more survival linked fear. I had only the smallest of problems jumping in, but my body seemed perfectly at ease paddling away.

I got back out as soon as possibke and shook myself off, jostling the imp a bit. She didn't make a comment on it except for a few uttered complaints about consideration. I sneezed again and lightly thumped her with my tail, which was still very wet. She made a noise somewhere between a shriek and a yelp, glaring at me when she realized it was only my tail. I couldn't hold in the silent, shaking laughter.

I continued on after a moment, killing off a few more of the black creatures along the way. I wanted to ask the imp what they were, but obviously there was a language barrier in the way. So instead I just made my way through the place in relative silence, the only exceptions being the imp's occasional comments, my shackle, and the squeals of the little black creatures I killed.

...Okay, that just sounded cruel.

Anyway, eventually I came to a barred off place, and the imp got off my back and floated through the bars.

"You'll have to find a way through here yourself, wolfy." She said.

I growled but looked to the water next to me before backtracking a great deal and pulling a third chain, lowering the water level. I returned to the barred off place and hopped down, going through a tunnel I had noticed and emerging next to the imp girl. She just plopped down on my back again - oh, how I did wish she wouldn't land so hard later on!

I growled and hit her with my tail again but got moving again anyway. I emerged into a room with a very broken spiral staircase. After a moment of examining it, I killed another creature because it got too close and then got a few pieces of rubble, spelling out 'very fast' in a very simplified version of the native language, which Ilia had been teaching me.

The imp tilted her head to the side at me, so I rearranged them to spell 'hold on.' Her head tilted a little farther, but she leaned low and grabbed hold of my fur. I only hoped I could still move anywhere near as quickly as usual like this.

I started and realised that, yes, I still could run very quickly. It was fast enough that gaps that should've given me trouble passed by in a flash. Before long we had reached the top, and, while I was slightly disgruntled at the loss of speed, I was satisfied by what I could reach.

The imp looked at me very curiously for a while while I stood panting. "I'm glad I listened to you when you told me to hold on." She eventually said.

I laughed at her again as I started moving at a normal pace. This time we emerged onto the roof, where I saw a second orb floating. Still quite dissatisfied by the last one I wasn't very eager to hear what this coward had to say, but I sank into my wolf senses and listened anyway.

"Monsters? In Hyrule Castle? This is an outrage!" He seethed.

I was almost approving of him. I grunted and went onwards, jumping over gaps and fighting with weird flying... _things_ every once in a while. Otherwise it was relatively peaceful, even when I had to run again, because the imp noticed the signs that I was going to and rather blandly asked if she needed to hold on again.

Finally I had to push a crate up in front of an open...window? Whatever, an open something, to get inside. From there it was a strangely mundane walk up the stairs and to a door that I nudged open with my nose.

A cloaked figure turned to us. "Midna...I thought you did not wish to aid us?"

I guessed Midna to be the imp.

"Well...Somebody has to stop Zant. Might as well be this guy." Midna shrugged.

The cloaked figure looked to me after a moment and knelt in front of me, placing a hand on my forehead. "Yes... He is the one we need. Thank you, Midna." It was then she noticed the shakle still attatched to my right forepaw. "You were imprisoned?"

I nodded.

"I am Princess Zelda." She threw back her hood. "The reason you have become the beast you are is because you are the chosen hero."

She then went on to explain in great detail how Zant had come in and taken everything over, spreading the Twilight across the land. When that was finished, she went to say more, but stopped. "The guard will be making his rounds soon. You should go."

So I edged out of the room, hearing the door at the bottom of the staircase open.

"That guard sure is punctual. Think you can get us out, wolfy?"

I nodded and dashed down the stairs, jumping at the last second and easily clearing the window thing. I landed outside and kept going. Midna was laughing by the time we made it back to the second spirit I had listened in on.

"Nice running, wolfy! Now... I'll need a sword and a shield. Think you can find me one?"

I nodded. I spelled out 'Ordon' in small pieces of the roof.

"Ordan Village?" I nodded. "Okay, wolfy. I can get us there!"

And then everything went black for a second.

When my vision came back I was standing in Ordon. I made my way up to Rusl's house, where I knew the sword was, avoiding Rusl's wife spotting me at Midna's insistance. I sniffed around until I found a soft patch of dirt and dug into the house. Midna seized the sword and we were leaving again.

It didn't take very long for me to figure out that the man sitting on the raised plataeu would not like my trying to get in through the open window of the house he was watching. So, carefully, I slipped around and onto the roof if what I had learned was the shop, sneaking up behind him and growling, which caused him to shriek and jump into the water, leaving me free to jump the gap and go inside.

Again, Midna snatched the item and we were out again in seconds. She seemed a bit dissatisfied with the gear, but decided she would make do with what she had. She was always much more tolerable when she wasn't making a pest of herself.

But then, out of nowhere, a hawk swooped in and knocked me into the water. The man, who had yet to pull himself out, shrieked again when I landed next to him. I growled and he flailed toward shore, running of to his house. The hawk dived at me, causing me to duck under the water to avoid it.

Despite not being deathly afraid of water at the moment, I was growing increasingly annoyed and scared by the second. The hawk eventually ended up getting a tailfeather ripped out because of a well timed warning snap. It screeched and flew off.

I paddled to the water's edge and pulled myself out, growling the whole time. I stalked back up the path toward my treehouse and continued on past the spring Ilia had taken me to to heal my ribs. And I would've kept going, too, if not for a voice quietly calling out to me.

I won't go into detail about what the Light Sprit Ordona said, just that I was apparently going to have to remain a wolf a bit longer. I was already irritated and wet at the time, and that information had me growling even louder. Midna wisely decided to make herself scarce on the trip up towards the Wall of Twilight, but appeared and passed through when we got there, reaching out her with hair to grab me and pull me in after her.


	5. Faron Woods: Twilight

**A/N: Amusez-vous, my dear readers! Long chapter today.**

* * *

Irritated as I was, it should be relatively obvious that I wasn't in a very charitable mood. As soon as Midna had landed on my back in the Twilight, I took off at that ground-eating run that could propel me over 30 foot gaps as a wolf. I, nice as I usually am, felt no remorse when she was almost thrown off by my sudden stop because of three beasts appearing and a cage snapping up around us.

I growled, still irritated and even more so because of the fact that I was now trapped. Midna hopped off my back and floated away, obviously not wanting to get caught in the fight. I was sure she probably could've helped me somehow, but Ibwas irritater and there were beasts at hand. I wasted no time in starting to run around in circles to pick up speed and then lunged, homing in on each of them in quick succession.

Each of them fell and dissolved like all the other monsters I'd killed so far.

Midna nodded in approval and floated back to plop down on my back. Again, much harder than necessary.

"Nice job wolfy. You have to defeat them all quickly or the last one standing can revive the others." She said.

I made a mental note of that for future reference. In the mean time, though, I took off again. Or, tried to, at least. But again a voice stopped me.

"Hero..." It began, "The Shadow Creatures have stolen my Light. You must seek them out and return it to me, for this is why these woods have been plunged into Twilight. I may return your form if you return the Light to me as well."

Light Spirit Faron was a kind creature, really. I just didn't have the patience to deal with him when I was already so annoyed. As it was, I growled noncommittally and took off to collect the light in the vessel he dropped for me.

And I was off, looking for the 'shadow creatures', which turned out to be bugs I couldn't even see unless I was using my wolf senses. I destroyed the first two I saw, and large orbs of light appeared. Midna took the light vessel from me and collected the orbs. I decided to call them tears to distinguish them from the orbs that embodied Spirits. I continued up the path and saw two of the bugs scurry under a gate. I tilted my head to the side, but decided against going after them - for now. Instead I turned left and tracked one of the bugs I could sort of smell to the side of the house in the clearing.

I rammed my head into the wall, knocking the bug to the ground and jumping on it, biting it and holding on until it died. Midna again collected the tear it left behind.

Let me tell you, these monsters aren't on the buffet for a reason! They taste horrid, but then they really weren't meant for eating anyway.

I sniffed for a minute before heading to a ramp that lead to an open window. I could only assume that it was open because the guy or girl who lived there had forgotten to close it, because this far away from the main settlement it would be stupid to just leave it open. I jumped across, landing with a thud and making my way inside. I climbed down and listened to the man who was cowering there.

_"Oh my goodness... What are these bugs?"_ He asked.

As soon as he said it, a scuttling alerted me to the presence of two more of the bugs. I pounced on each of them in turn, shaking my head quickly in order to kill them faster. I snorted when the man tilted his head to the side, wondering aloud where the bugs had gone. While I listened, Midna collected the light tears, and then I left.

I scampered out of the house through the open window and down to the ground, padding back to the gate. I once again canted my head to the side and sniffed. A bit of ground seemed to be sparkling, so I sniffed at it before narrowing my arms and beginning to dig. I came up inside the gate, shook off the dirt, and found my annoyed mood starting to fade. Apparently it helped to kill things. I'm not sure.

I defeated the next two bugs the same way I defeated the last two. It was a system, I killed them, Midna collected the tears. She was still being extremely quiet, even for her, so when she went to collect the tears this time, I nudged her with my nose and licked her. It was instinct, alright! I had no other way of communicating that I felt better!

She giggled and swatted me lightly. "Good to see you feeling better, wolfy!"

She collected the tears and we continued on. We eventually emerged into a clearing, which appeared to be covered in a sick purple fog. I wasn't even going to chance that, so I bolted. I was very glad to still be able to homing attack as a wolf, so I made almost no mistakes, and eventually reached the large tree trunk in the middle of the clearing. I could smell three of the bugs on the stump, so I searched for them. It didn't take me long to find them. I continued to kill them the way I had been.

I bounded across some more stumps, and past swinging logs. It was sort of difficult to get up to speed on those, things, but I managed. Once I was done with that, I found two more bugs, though I had to dig them up. They went just like all the others. When I emerged out of the clearing, three of the beasts I'd defeated earlier appeared.

I wasted no time in repeating my earlier stunt with them, and that was dealt with in seconds.

I made my way farther, taking note of a bridge in the corner of the area, leaned up against the rock wall. I had no idea why, but something told me I'd need it. A strange bird thing tilted its head at me as I passed. I ignored it, for the most part, and made my way up to a Temple like place. The last two bugs were harassing a poor monkey. I growled and took them out in quick succession.

As soon as Midna collected the last two tears, there was a rushing sensation and I was back at the spring where the Light Spirit Faron was waiting. I was in my own form, much to my relief. I was wearing a green tunic, as well, but I largely ignored it for the moment.

"Hero, you have been chosen by the gods to save this world." He began, "You are our only hope. Venture to the other springs, free the other spirits... But first, rid the Forest Temple of the Dark Power locked away within. May the way of the Hero lead you to victory!"

To my shock, a voice materialized out of nowhere. _"Chosen by the gods, huh? Nifty little title, but not quite correct. Amusez-vous, Sonic the Hedgehog. I have little doubt you will be able to overcome this challenge without my help."_

I started to ask who it was, but something told me that whoever it was wouldn't answer me. I closed my mouth and raised an eye-ridge, saying nothing. Midna was quiet as well, though I think she was probably in shock that I wasn't a human. It wouldn't surprise me. I just couldn't wait to see what she'd think when I started running at the speed of sound!

I chuckled a bit at the thought and turned around, making my way back toward where I now knew the entrance to the forest temple to be.


End file.
